From Abracadabra to Zombies

Book Review

The first thing to note about this book is its price. It retails for about $150.00 without
any discount. Thus, its price puts this book out of the reach of the ordinary buyer.
Libraries and serious researchers are its main audience.

The second thing to note is that there is a foreword by Carl Sagan. He recommends the
book.

"Encyclopedia" is probably too generous a term for this collection of some
ninety articles which vary in length, depth, rigor and quality. Many of the articles are
based on works already published. At least one entry, "Coincidences," is a
reprint of an article previously published. Apparently, it has not even been proofread,
for it contains numerous typographical errors. There are also articles which make
references to earlier discussions which did not occur (e.g., the
fortune telling article
refers to a non-existent earlier discussion of crystal gazing).
Some use codes which are unclear (e.g., Gardner's use of UB for Urantia Book).

Some of the authors are surprising too, e.g., Jessica Utts on "Statistics and the
Paranormal." Utts believes that there is statistical evidence supporting some
paranormal claims. She is hardly a skeptic. Another surprise is Marcello Truzzi for the
entry on "pseudoscience", which he believes is mostly a useless term since there
is no clear line between science, bad science and pseudoscience. He should take a look at
Barrett's entry on alternative health practices and examine the use of
vitalistic concepts
such as chi and prana, the common rejection of scientific methods and basic concepts, and
the reliance on subjective personal emotional satisfaction as a scientific criterion. He
might also look at some of the New Age Physics being promoted on the internet. These
people are not just incompetent scientists; they don't know the difference between
metaphysics and science. (See my Skeptic's Dictionary entry on takionics as an example.)

Some might find it interesting that the "Theosophy" entry is written by a
theosophist, Robert S. Ellwood. The "parapsychology" entry is written by
parapsychologist Robert Morris. The "ghost/haunted houses" entry is written by
Andrew MacKenzie who is on the Council of the Society for Psychical Research. The entry on
"poltergeists" is written by Alan Gauld, an author of books on poltergeists and
mediums and one who is very willing to give credence to the possibility of "recurrent
spontaneous psychokinesis." And the "tarot" entry is written by Ronald
Decker who is described as having "pursued the Tarot for twenty years through twelve
countries."

Readers familiar with the Skeptical Inquirer and Prometheus Books will recognize
some of the other authors with entries in the Encyclopedia: Joe Nickell has several
entries, as does Gordon Stein, the editor. Terence Hines made several contributions.
There are also entries by Jim Lippard, Eugenie Scott, Paul Kurtz, Martin Gardner, Paul
Edwards, Anthony Flew, and Kendrick Frazier.

The articles vary greatly in style from the very informal approach of Bob McCoy on "phrenology" to the scholarly
approach of Dr. Sarah Gray Thomason on "xenoglossy" (the alleged speaking
of a language entirely unknown to the speaker).